Images(3)

Gusle

Date1940-1960 ca.

Place MadeYugoslavia, Europe

Place MadeHerzegovina

Place MadeBosnia

Place MadeMacedonia

Place MadeSerbia

Serial No.none

Signednone
MarkingsBranded toward lower end of neck, just above resonating chamber: [Y]UGOSLAVIA
DescriptionBody: neck, back and teardrop-shaped resonator carved from single piece of wood, maple (monoxylic construction); low relief chip carving throughout
resonator: teardrop-shaped resonator, three soundholes in back; goatskin soundtable tacked to body with 10 large and 24 small wooden spikes (34 total); 10 small holes punched in goatskin between endpiece and bridge, forming two, five-hole “+” shapes
Finial: hand-carved, wooden finial as stylized horse head; integral construction
Peg: hand-carved, wooden, posterior peg, carved with vertical lines bordered by a zigzag motif; house in stylized, carved, wooden feline head, strings passing through cat’s mouth
Bridge: carved wooden bridge in form of stylized serpent, notch cut in upper edge where string rests
String: consists of 74 horse hairs, tied at peg, passing through cat’s mouth, and tied to a segment of vegetal twine secured around endpiece (part of single piece construction) in the form of an owl

Associated bow: single-piece construction with stylized serpent handle, with two irregularly shaped cut-outs and a protruding head, and convex stick; at this juncture, a small drilled hole (perpendicular to bow construction) through which an undecorated
DimensionsWidth of resonator: 184.15 mm (7.25 in)
Overall length: 666.75 mm (26.25 in)
String length (knot on vegetal twine to peg): 444.5 mm (17.5 in)
Length of bow: 403.23 mm (15.875 in)
Bow string length: 285.75 mm (11.25 in)
Length of bridge: 84 mm (3.31 in)
Distance between legs of inverted “v”: 42 mm (1.65 in)
Width of bridge: 9.5 mm (.37 in)
Height of bridge: 29 mm (1.14 in)
Height of notch (distance from base of bridge to lowest point of notch): 25.4 mm (1 in)
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.

Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979

Object number04063

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